Art museums in Prague

Check this site: https://www.jewishmuseum.cz/en/info/visit/. It was one of the best sites we saw in Prague. Allow yourself 2-3 hours if you go.

Edit: Looks like this is included on your tour, but I would find time to return as it is very moving. Time to wander through the cemetery and other buildings is essential.

Art museums in Prague are listed below. I haven't verified that all are open at the moment, nor have I been to all of them.

• National Gallery http://www.ngprague.cz/en/: Multiple locations; some of which may have changed since my 2018 trip, so check the website.
  Museum of Medieval Art (superb, at Convent of St. Agnes of Bohemia)
  Sternberg Palace - Old Masters, including a Cranach and a Rembrandt
  Schwarzenberg Palace - Baroque in Bohemia.
  Kinsky Palace - temporary exhibitions
  Veletržní Palace (Trade Fair Palace) - Modernist)

• Castle Gallery, N wing off second courtyard. (This might be the Lobkowicz Palace.)

• Czech Poster Museum

• House of the Black Madonna (Museum of Czech Cubism)

• Galerie Rudolfinum: contemporary art

• Artpark

• DOX Centre for Contemporary Art

• Villa Bilek (has sculpture by Bilek)

There might be something of interest on this recent TripAdvisor list, though I think some of the places are commercial sales galleries: Prague art galleries from TripAdvisor

Not an art museum, but a truly stunning Art Nouveau building: Municipal House (Obecní dům). You need to take a tour to see the best parts, and if you have any interest in taking photos of interior architectural elements, pay the modest photography fee. I regretted not doing so.

The Castle Gallery mentioned above is called the Prague Castle Picture Gallery. I would definitely go to Lobkowicz Palace if you like Canaletto (they have two Venice scenes). You could also try the Museum of Decorative Arts which hosts the national design collection https://www.upm.cz/en/.

I agree with the suggestion for the Municipal House. Stunning art deco interiors including a Mucha mural. Not sure if the tour still includes a glass of champagne the end but it did when I took it about 10 years ago.

I also loved the individual Mucha museum. I visited on my arrival day in the afternoon - nice walk from my hotel to keep me awake and a small but well done collection was easy to get through without feeling overwhelmed.

Goodness, thank you all for the advice. Art and history museums are really my happy place so I have a lot to work with now. I’m trying to decide how many days I need ahead of the tour starting on Oct 22. I was thinking 3 extra days would do it but now I’m wondering if it should be 4. I do love Canaletto, and I’ve just seen that one of my favorite Bronzino portraits lives in Prague! And evidently a couple of Bruegels too. Many thanks.

I went to the Veletrzny Palac last week and the current exhibitions were "Art of the Long Century" (1790-1914) and art in Czechoslovakia in the inter-war period. Both very good.

Breugel the Elder's "Haymaking", 1565, is essential viewing at the Lobkowicz Palace in Prague. It's one of 5 remaining paintings based on seasonal activities from the only series created by Breugel the Elder, one has disappeared over time, the Met in NY has one and the Kunsthistorisches in Vienna has the other 3. "Haymaking" is considered to be in the best physical condition and all 5 are fairly large. The Palace has created a nice presentation room for it. Of course the Breugel room in Vienna is the premier set of Breugel the Elder works. We've just returned from our tours and we've seen all of them.

Happy to say I’ll be seeing all 5 in a short time frame (relatively speaking) as I’m doing a NYC visit in June and Budapest and Vienna in Oct/Nov. 😁. The Bruegel in Budapest is a huge plus for me. Thanks

Hi from Wisconsin,
Prague is an interesting place. I don't think about official art museums when I think of Prague. I believe Prague itself has not been damaged by a war since 1620. That means there haven't been many accidental demolishing of buildings. It makes Prague a giant museum. Warsaw was leveled and rebuilt, not to knock them, but it is a reproduction. Same with Munich. Prague is the real thing. Looting by the Germans during WWII was a problem for those things that weren't nailed down. The buildings...they are what make Prague worth visiting.

The Loreta district near Prague Castle has the Saint to Unhappily Married Women in the Loreta Chapel. Plus, if you want to get angry at the Catholic Church, there are over 300 items in the Loreta Treasury containing enough gold and diamonds to get all the poor in Prague to middle class. One monstrance has 6222 diamonds mounted on it. Not really billed as a museum, but it sure is. The building alone in a different city would be a tourist stop.

The Infant Child of Prague is of course located in Prague. For those of you raised with this religious tradition it is worth going to see the original. You can find it at the Discalced Carmelite Church of Our Lady of Victories in Malá Strana.

The Municipal House IS a piece of artwork. Fabulous. Go in for a nice tall lemonade and then walk around. This is Art Nouveau at its best.

In the Letna (Letneska) District across the river on the castle side of the Vlatava River has the National Museum of Technology. This is actually a very nice walk eastward from the castle through an extended park. At the end of the park is an up and coming neighborhood that tourists have not beaten to death. And here is the Nat. Museum of Tech. If you like bicycles , motor bikes, and old cars, this is your magnet. Also in this neighborhood is the National Gallery Prague – Trade Fair Palace, traditional and modern art. Take tram #26 to Letenské náměstí tram stop and these two museums are close at hand.

Chances are, any musical performance you go to will be housed in a 'museum' like structure.

The Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul has a cemetery that is an out of doors museum of sculpture. Not only are famous people interred here but the art work is so good pieces have been stolen. And of course, a basilica, is a church of unusual beauty.

Remember to go to the Jewish district. Hitler was making this area a museum to an extinct race.

St. Vitus Cathedral has windows by Alfons Mucha. His huge Slav Epic is not in Prague. They couldn't find a display area large enough for these 20 gigantic paintings. But they are in Moravsky Krumlov, but that is a bit over 2 hours away by car, and 4 hours away by train/bus. However, the Slav Epic is in this window.

Sometimes the musical performance is less expensive than the entrance fee alone to look around. So go hear some music and see what the inside holds.

wayne iNWI

Wayne, thank you so much for all the information you shared. Wow, had a major flashback to my Catholic youth. After 12 years of Catholic school growing up in Texas, I remember seeing pictures of the Holy Infant of Prague. Quickly did the wiki thing and I’ll probably be there for mass on Oct 22. They even do an English mass. Yes all the Catholic history over centuries adds another layer to my touring for good and ill.

And yes walking through Prague will be so special. But also checking out the art accrued over the centuries by which ever ruler was in power and then managed to survive the looting by the next group to sweep through.